69 migrants found on fishing boat at Harwich: Three charged
They were discovered back in November
Three people have been charged after 69 people were found smuggled on a fishing boat in Harwich.
The trio - from London and Kent - are accused of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration, after the discovery last November.
They are:
- Arturas Jusas, aged 34, a Lithuanian national of Wandsworth Road, Lambeth
- Kfir Ivgi, 32, an Israeli national living in Corrigan Close, Finchley
- Sergejs Kuliss, 39, of Hartlake Road, Tonbridge in Kent
The Crown Prosecution Service has now authorised charges of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration, and they will appear before Southend Magistrates later today.
The operation follows the interception of the fishing boat Svanic off the coast of East Anglia on 17 November last year, as part of a joint operation involving the NCA, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force.
The boat had sailed from the Ostend area of Belgium and was carrying 69 Albanian passengers.
It was escorted into Harwich where the three crew, a Latvian national and two Ukrainian nationals, were arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration. They were subsequently charged.